Transferring pension to SIPP timing

Bianchiintenso

Would the timing matter at all, when transferring to a SIPP provider from an old inflexible legacy provider? It would have to be transferred as cash, appreciate no one can tell what will happen to markets whilst it's in the transfer process, so is it just a matter of making the transfer regardless of state of markets, time of year etc?

xylophone

If you need to transfer the old pension into the SIPP so as to access your funds on a flexible basis and the transfer has to be in cash, then I don't see that timing is of any importance.

It will arrive in cash so then it's over to you as to your next action - if you are taking out cash, timing has no importance.

If you are re investing, then timing is important in so far as it could be a good time (you buy low and then sell high) or a bad time (you buy high and then have to sell low).

But who can tell without a functioning crystal ball? Mine never even started working but they wouldn't give me a refund....

Bianchiintenso

  yes it will be reinvested, so I'll go and grab my crystal balls to get the timing spot on
It was the selling I was thinking of, as the funds are bouncing arounds a little at the moment up £20k down £20k, so selling when they appear to be at a high point and cross fingers?

Notepad_Phil

If you are reinvesting the funds then you could investigate whether you can do a series of partial transfers so that you aren't transferring everything at once, that way you hopefully don't suffer the fate of your entire pension going to cash just as stock markets rise and you then have to buy the new funds at a higher cost than they were when you started the transfer.

Bianchiintenso

Notepad_Phil said:

If you are reinvesting the funds then you could investigate whether you can do a series of partial transfers so that you aren't transferring everything at once, that way you hopefully don't suffer the fate of your entire pension going to cash just as stock markets rise and you then have to buy the new funds at a higher cost than they were when you started the transfer.

Interesting thought, though not sure my nerves could take that, think I'd rather press the button once when they climb above previous high and hide under the table for a while although would be very interested to hear from anyone who has done a staged transfer for experiences

Notepad_Phil

Bianchiintenso said:

Notepad_Phil said:

If you are reinvesting the funds then you could investigate whether you can do a series of partial transfers so that you aren't transferring everything at once, that way you hopefully don't suffer the fate of your entire pension going to cash just as stock markets rise and you then have to buy the new funds at a higher cost than they were when you started the transfer.

Interesting thought, though not sure my nerves could take that, think I'd rather press the button once when they climb above previous high and hide under the table for a while although would be very interested to hear from anyone who has done a staged transfer for experiences

It probably won't be a great surprise to find that I did a similar transfer in that manner a few years ago. I can't remember the exact figures, but the worst transfer would have meant a £ loss into the thousands if I had done everything at once whilst the best transfer would have meant a £ gain into the thousands - by doing multiple mini transfers I averaged out to about even.

In my case my pension was a big percentage of my total investments and I was near the end of my accumulating period so I definitely did not want to suffer the effects of one of the occasional big rises that the stock markets can suddenly experience, consequently I didn't mind that the transfer took a bit more of my time or that it took a few months from start to finish.

Bianchiintenso

Notepad_Phil said:

Bianchiintenso said:

Notepad_Phil said:

If you are reinvesting the funds then you could investigate whether you can do a series of partial transfers so that you aren't transferring everything at once, that way you hopefully don't suffer the fate of your entire pension going to cash just as stock markets rise and you then have to buy the new funds at a higher cost than they were when you started the transfer.

Interesting thought, though not sure my nerves could take that, think I'd rather press the button once when they climb above previous high and hide under the table for a while although would be very interested to hear from anyone who has done a staged transfer for experiences

It probably won't be a great surprise to find that I did a similar transfer in that manner a few years ago. I can't remember the exact figures, but the worst transfer would have meant a £ loss into the thousands if I had done everything at once whilst the best transfer would have meant a £ gain into the thousands - by doing multiple mini transfers I averaged out to about even.

In my case my pension was a big percentage of my total investments and I was near the end of my accumulating period so I definitely did not want to suffer the effects of one of the occasional big rises that the stock markets can suddenly experience, consequently I didn't mind that the transfer took a bit more of my time or that it took a few months from start to finish.

Interesting, what was your average time out of market per transfer if you don’t mind me asking?
also out of interest was the reason the old platform didn’t allow drawdown?

Notepad_Phil

Bianchiintenso said:

Notepad_Phil said:

Bianchiintenso said:

Notepad_Phil said:

If you are reinvesting the funds then you could investigate whether you can do a series of partial transfers so that you aren't transferring everything at once, that way you hopefully don't suffer the fate of your entire pension going to cash just as stock markets rise and you then have to buy the new funds at a higher cost than they were when you started the transfer.

Interesting thought, though not sure my nerves could take that, think I'd rather press the button once when they climb above previous high and hide under the table for a while although would be very interested to hear from anyone who has done a staged transfer for experiences

It probably won't be a great surprise to find that I did a similar transfer in that manner a few years ago. I can't remember the exact figures, but the worst transfer would have meant a £ loss into the thousands if I had done everything at once whilst the best transfer would have meant a £ gain into the thousands - by doing multiple mini transfers I averaged out to about even.

In my case my pension was a big percentage of my total investments and I was near the end of my accumulating period so I definitely did not want to suffer the effects of one of the occasional big rises that the stock markets can suddenly experience, consequently I didn't mind that the transfer took a bit more of my time or that it took a few months from start to finish.

Interesting, what was your average time out of market per transfer if you don’t mind me asking?
also out of interest was the reason the old platform didn’t allow drawdown?

I was lucky in that both platforms used the Origo system, which meant that a lot of the transfer was done online rather than paper needing to be sent from platform to platform. Consequently the actual average time out of market was only about six to seven days per transfer, so not too bad, but still too long for me to want to just do the one transfer.

For me the old platform would have been okay for my drawdown needs, but I wanted access to more funds to satisfy what I wanted in my retirement portfolio, it also helped that the new platform was a lot cheaper as they were a per month fee rather than percentage based.

Bianchiintenso

Notepad_Phil said:

Bianchiintenso said:

Notepad_Phil said:

Bianchiintenso said:

Notepad_Phil said:

If you are reinvesting the funds then you could investigate whether you can do a series of partial transfers so that you aren't transferring everything at once, that way you hopefully don't suffer the fate of your entire pension going to cash just as stock markets rise and you then have to buy the new funds at a higher cost than they were when you started the transfer.

Interesting thought, though not sure my nerves could take that, think I'd rather press the button once when they climb above previous high and hide under the table for a while although would be very interested to hear from anyone who has done a staged transfer for experiences

It probably won't be a great surprise to find that I did a similar transfer in that manner a few years ago. I can't remember the exact figures, but the worst transfer would have meant a £ loss into the thousands if I had done everything at once whilst the best transfer would have meant a £ gain into the thousands - by doing multiple mini transfers I averaged out to about even.

In my case my pension was a big percentage of my total investments and I was near the end of my accumulating period so I definitely did not want to suffer the effects of one of the occasional big rises that the stock markets can suddenly experience, consequently I didn't mind that the transfer took a bit more of my time or that it took a few months from start to finish.

Interesting, what was your average time out of market per transfer if you don’t mind me asking?
also out of interest was the reason the old platform didn’t allow drawdown?

I was lucky in that both platforms used the Origo system, which meant that a lot of the transfer was done online rather than paper needing to be sent from platform to platform. Consequently the actual average time out of market was only about six to seven days per transfer, so not too bad, but still too long for me to want to just do the one transfer.

For me the old platform would have been okay for my drawdown needs, but I wanted access to more funds to satisfy what I wanted in my retirement portfolio, it also helped that the new platform was a lot cheaper as they were a per month fee rather than percentage based.

Thanks Phil, appreciate the info

Albermarle

Bianchiintenso said:

  yes it will be reinvested, so I'll go and grab my crystal balls to get the timing spot on
It was the selling I was thinking of, as the funds are bouncing arounds a little at the moment up £20k down £20k, so selling when they appear to be at a high point and cross fingers?

If the old provider is still on a paper based system the transfer could get delayed, so timing will be difficult anyway.

Bianchiintenso

Albermarle said:

Bianchiintenso said:

  yes it will be reinvested, so I'll go and grab my crystal balls to get the timing spot on
It was the selling I was thinking of, as the funds are bouncing arounds a little at the moment up £20k down £20k, so selling when they appear to be at a high point and cross fingers?

If the old provider is still on a paper based system the transfer could get delayed, so timing will be difficult anyway.

Given it’s a legacy Allied Dunbar pension with Zurich and the poor interface they have online, I wouldn’t be at all surprised